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Ballmer Admits Google Apps Are Biting Into MS Office
twitter points out coverage of a discussion between Steve Ballmer and two Gartner analysts in which the Microsoft CEO admits that Google Apps is enjoying an advantage over Office by users who want to share their documents. He points to Office Live as their response to Google, and adds, "Google has the lead, but, if we're good at advertising, we'll compete with them in the consumer business." Whether or not they're good at advertising is still in question, if their recent attempts are any indication. Ballmer also made statements indicating some sort of arrangement with Yahoo! could still be in the works, but Microsoft was quick to step on that idea. Regarding Windows Vista, he said Microsoft was prepared for people to skip it altogether, and that Microsoft would be "ready" when it was time to deploy Windows 7.
. . . but trusting one's data to the "cloud" is just plain foolhardy. I'll keep local applications and local control, thankyouverymuch.
Two concepts (not mutually exclusive):
1. Enterprise space - along with whatever mission critical application you care to name that isn't available on Linux
2. Photoshop - and no, we aren't talking about GIMP. It has to be the genuine locked down Adobe product (for all of those big commercial shops).
Yes, you can run Photoshop on OS X but there are many (perhaps most) LARGE 'artistic' groups in advertising and publishing that run on Windows.
So Linux may well make inroads in the individual user space, perhaps even in the SOHO space, but until application developers embrace Linux (or OS X or anybody else), it's gonna be Windows all the way down.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Your solution is the most complicated to implement, even if it's the least expensive.
Yes, tons of window managers, but the average user only has to pick one of 2 (or three if you count in XFCE) but if you stick with all the apps with a G as the first letter you can be assured a standard UI if you are using Gnome, likewise if K is the first letter you can be assured that it uses a standard UI for KDE, compare that with MS who has tons of different icons, etc. for different products which are all in the same time frame and first-party applications, see http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/microsoft-learn-from-apple-II.media/vista.png for an example of what I'm talking about.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
* Viruses - THis is not a OS problem, its a user problem.
* Malware - Again not specific to Windows.
Oh, right. I forgot, your browser is clearly supposed to install all kinds of random crap that messes with settings and toolbars without prompts. Oh wait, other browsers don't do that? Other browsers prompt you before they do things like that? Yes, MS managed to fix a lot of that with IE7, but its still not an excuse for them doing that for the ~2-3 years of IE6.
* Applications - All the software in the world at a single spot. i.e. Google for applications. Who addresses commercial software? Who handles payments for this? Who will handle updates? Do users want to download Multi GB Games/Applications? Who pays for the massive bandwidth? What if you're not connected online,etc ,etc. Again. Doesnt scale, buddy.
Lets see... On an average Windows install, the only software that isn't usually pirated, is made by Microsoft in the form of Office/Works/etc., An anti-virus/spyware application but the rest is all freeware/shareware/OSS. Most people's software is downloaded. You make a good point about games, but it honestly wouldn't be hard for a game maker to include a binary to run for Linux, same with commercial software. The thing is, boxed commercial software is a really, really, really small part of the average user's computer even on Windows. The "massive bandwidth" would be provided in the same way it always has, via mirrors and the official site. Today, most computers that are not in specialty use are connected online. If they aren't, it isn't that hard to go to a library or a friends house, or buy a CD with some .deb files in them, double click and type in your password.
Linux also has the advantage of customization. For example, its a pain to create a customized XP/Vista install disk, its trivial for someone to create a modified Ubuntu or other distro with the applications you need.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
As much as I am loath to say this, I seriously doubt Microsoft has to worry about Google-apps. Corp-America is not going to go Google-apps. But mind you, they WILL worry. Because Microsoft is so fucking egotistical as a company they can't envision anyone having something successful besides them. It pisses them off, esp. Balmer. They just can't accept that they should stick to what they're good at (were good?). If they put as much effort into making Windows better it WOULD be. They chased the search market in vain and the mp3 player in vain. They're a spoiled company that thinks they should have it because they want it. Microsoft never innovates. They copy or buy. They usually fail at copying. The XBox is a noted example of something they copied and succeeded at gaining market. Keep at it, MS! Pursue! The more money you waste on shit like online apps the more that won't go into Windows! Which is fine. The world would be better off if more people would move on to another OS.
easier for the average user to do what?
someone who's used KDE or Gnome since 1995 would find it easier to use KDE/Gnome than !KDE or !Gnome. what does that prove? unless you're trying to argue that people should stick with the same operating system that they've used in the past because users are too stupid to deal with change, i don't really see your point. that has nothing to do with UI uniformity or the usability of a particular OS.
there's more to software user-friendliness/usability than just resistance to change.
Most people's software is downloaded?
Not to quote Sarah Palin, but "Joe Sixpack" and Grandma have a lot of legit software. I think it is a stretch to say most software is pirated. Do you know how many people are STILL buying WinZip? Or those little "Reg cleaners"? Games?
C'mon...
If you ask me, Windows 7 looks a lot like a response to Linux on the desktop.
Windows 7 is a response to Linux the same way Coke Zero is a response to Tab.
Windows 7 is a response to Vista. People turned down the bloated system that is Vista, so Microsoft has made promises to fix all the issues and release a new system in two years' time. But as is always the case, the promises will be forgotten and the release date will slip again and again. But Windows 8, now that's going to really rock...
Viruses - THis is not a OS problem, its a user problem.
If Windows can be infected with viruses or malware within hours of installation, with almost no user input, that is an OS problem. Lame excuses not accepted.
Crashes - Yeah, comeback with real proof.
Having just spent the last few hours rescuing a friend's computer when Microsoft had advised her to re-format and reinstall (which would have blown away her PhD thesis in the process) after a crash from which it wouldn't reboot, I think I'm in a good position to answer that. This lady was only running MS Word at the time, and last time I looked, that was MS code.
I have been using Linux on all of my desktop machines since 1995, and I have never had a kernel crash. No, NOT EVEN ONCE. Sure, I have had the occasional panic on bootup when I've done something stupid like forgetting to build in support for my root filesystem type, but I don't think that counts.
From my experience, you don't have to access the "command" any more, or at least a lot less then before.
Debian/Ubuntu has apt, and has loads of stuff in their repositories. Ubuntu even enables multiverse by default, as far as I know. If not, it's a click away. If it's not in the repositories, it can be packaged as a .deb by the package maintainer, and yes you can double click those, fill in your password and it installs, without any need for the "command."
Software developers for Windows now make elaborate installers, making a deb and an rpm won't cost them any more time.
I understand why people get directed to the command line a lot though. Linux is still a power user OS, and power users often use the command line, because it gets things done faster and more efficiently in a lot of cases. So, this is what they know. They know how to set up X by editing xorg.conf. They'd rather use apt-get than synaptic. So, if you have a problem with your Linux install and ask the average user, you're likely to get a power user answer and it involves opening up the command prompt.
I do feel that Ubuntu is a step in the right direction. A lot of the howtos on their wiki and forum are focused on the GUI.
Yes that is a perfect analogy. If the standard user hopped into an F1 car as opposed to their normal sedan, they'd have a hell of a time even figuring out how to put on their steering wheel, much less learning how to shift and how to drive around without killing himself.
Linux has made really huge strides with regards to a cleaner easier to navigate UI that is consistent (as long as you stick with just one). And driver support has been getting better all the time. But there are two issues that I've seen personally that will hold this up.
1) Driver support for new hardware. This isn't eally the fault of the people working on Linux drivers, people are still getting hardware from manufacturers for which there aren't, or aren't yet Linux drivers that just work. We're talking about average users here, so buying open hardware isn't an issue. They don't care. They want the really good deal that was advertised last month, and they're going to buy that one.
2) People are still trying to downplay software support and point to Linux alternatives. Again, people don't care. They have their favorite copy of game/finance/whatever software sitting around and they want to be able to install that.
I think we can hope that people in this community are a little more open to buying hardware that is OSS friendly, and likewise figure out how to use alternative software or get things working under Wine, etc. But there really is nothing wrong with people expecting to use their computer as an appliance. Right now, aside from people who want to use it simply as a web/email machine, or even have someone set it up with several apps and then never change anything, I don't think it's there yet. And it's definitely a catch 22 of whether user adoption brings more manufacturers/developers in line or manufacturers/devs bring users in line.
Again, the point is completely missed. Using Google Apps, users can collaborate on works irrespective of the platform in use. (Windowz, OSX, Linux, phone or gaming platform)
Microsoft is going to roll an exclusively Windows solution for the Windows OS. If it bears any semblance to their previous efforts in collaborative groupware it will be irrelevant.
Tisha Hayes